Sustainability in Food

Niebur was selected for continued efforts to building relationships in the agriculture sector.

Recently, Bill Niebur, DuPont vice president and vice president of DuPont Pioneer — North Asia, was named one of “50 people shaping the future of the U.S.-China relationship” in the Pacific Power Index publicized by the Foreign Policy Group. The list of innovative leaders came from government, finance, education, corporate, media and military, and includes Richard Levin (President of Yale University), Jerry Brown (Governor of California), Zhou Xiaochuan (Governor of the People’s Bank of China) and Jack Ma (President of Alibaba Group).

The Index focuses on the achievements by individuals “shaping the future” through bridge-building and close collaboration between the two countries. The selection criteria emphasized Niebur’s continued efforts to build bilateral relationships in the agriculture sector, and commended the contributions of DuPont in supplying advanced seeds producing superior grains and feed for Chinese farmers.

Niebur has defined the position of DuPont Pioneer in China as “In China, with China,” an approach that is appreciated by the Chinese government and industry. On behalf of the company, he has actively participated in dialogues and cooperation between Chinese and American agricultural organizations. By promoting discussions and expressing his views on technological innovation, bilateral collaboration, agricultural modernization and other topics, he has established the company as a “thought leader” in the industry.

In addition, Niebur has led the Pioneer China team to invest enormous efforts in the cultivation of professionalized agricultural talents. Over the past five years, Pioneer has provided Chinese agricultural students with internships and employment opportunities and has collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture and other government departments on the introduction of leading agricultural technologies. Over the past two years, Pioneer has extended its education and training programs to business partners and professional farmers. In addition to national business operations, Pioneer is committed to building a professional agricultural industrial model and cultivating agricultural practitioners in China.

Collaboration is key to making progress in global food and nutrition security. DuPont is pleased to partner with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its Feed the Future program as we collectively aim to address this issue. A year ago, USAID and DuPont announced a joint agreement to deepen efforts to reduce global hunger and poverty by enabling smallholder farmers access to proven, safe and transformative agricultural innovations. The agreement builds on a strong history of partnership between DuPont, USAID, university partners, the private sector and NGOs. Learn more about Feed the Future in a recently issued post by its leaders and a year-in-review report.

Results from the latest Global Food Security Index (GFSI) quarterly price adjustment update revealed that food affordability improved in nearly 75 percent of countries in September through November 2014 timeframe largely because of a 2.8 percent decline in global food prices, which have reached a four-year low.

In a recent release, The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) reported that all-time high production levels of corn, wheat and soybeans, and falling global oil prices have resulted in improved food security outlooks for 79 of the 109 countries in the Index. However, the full impact of cheaper oil on local consumer prices, political stability, and on the fiscal positions of oil exporters and importers will only play out in the months to come. Find the full news release here.

Key Findings

The quarterly affordability updates of the GFSI highlight the vulnerability of countries to food price shocks, especially for those where populations already face undernourishment. Incorporating global data and information from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Food Price Index, the EIU’s quarterly update adjusts for global food price changes and for movements in exchange rates, national incomes and import dependence on a country-by-country basis. This provides a top-level assessment of the impact of price changes that might help or hurt a country’s food security.

According to the FAO, global food prices have been falling since the end of August 2014, when they reached the lowest level in four years. Prices continued to decline, reaching another new four-year low in November.

Despite significant score improvements, few countries experienced changes in their overall GFSI rankings. Denmark and Australia, however, each rose four places in the rankings, while Switzerland fell five places.

Global food prices fell across all commodities except cereals, with dairy and sugar experiencing the most drastic declines, according to the FAO.

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Global Challenge

One in seven people on earth goes to bed hungry each night. Ensuring that enough healthy, nutritious food is available for people everywhere is one of the most critical challenges we face.
At DuPont, we commit 61% of our research and development dollars to ensuring that the world's growing population has enough food. From advancing the nutritional content of crops, to helping farmers and growers around the world increase their yields, to finding better ways to ensure food safety, we're working every day to get more good food to more people.

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